2G cell phone towers interfere with public safety

The northern California city of Oakland, California, along with federal investigators may have discovered a major source of disruption to the city's police radio communications system being caused by AT&T cell phone towers. Oakland's public safety radio communications system has suffered repeated failures since its installation last year and police officers have been unable to communicate with to dispatchers or other officers on an ongoing basis.

Currently AT&T is reporting that since they have only recently been notified that they have not been able to fully investigate the problem. In the mean time AT&T has temporarily shut down the 850 MHz frequency for 2G customers. Customers who are still on 2G are using some of the company's oldest phones and would still be supported in the affected areas on the 1900 MHz frequency.

The company that installed the public safety radio system for Oakland did check for interference, but it is also unclear on how close they tested equipment in relation to the cell towers.